Serena Williams Penns Moving Letter About Black Lives Matter

Serena Williams has released a letter on her Facebook recalling a chilling moment she had when driving in a car with her nephew.

“Today I asked my 18 year old nephew (to be clear he's black) to drive me to my meetings so I can work on my phone #safteyfirst. In the distance I saw cop on the side of the road. I quickly checked to see if he was obliging by the speed limit. Then I remembered that horrible video of the woman in the car when a cop shot her boyfriend. All of this went through my mind in a matter of seconds. I even regretted not driving myself. I would never forgive myself if something happened to my nephew. He's so innocent. So were all "the others".

Williams is most-likely referencing the tragic and fatal shooting of Philando Castile, a black man living in Minnesota. Castile was a licensed gun owner, and was shot as he was reaching in his pocket for his registration. Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, recorded the shooting on Facebook Live. The cop who shot Castile, Jeronimo Yanez, was not convicted for the shooting.

“I am a total believer that not "everyone" is bad It is just the ones that are ignorant, afraid, uneducated, and insensitive that is affecting millions and millions of lives”, Williams continued.

“Why did I have to think about this in 2016? Have we not gone through enough, opened so many doors, impacted billions of lives? But I realized we must stride on- for it's not how far we have come but how much further still we have to go.I than wondered than have I spoken up? I had to take a look at me. What about my nephews? What if I have a son and what about my daughters?”

Williams concluded her piece by quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “ There comes a time when silence is betrayal".

“I

Won't

Be

Silent,” Williams concludes.

Nor should she be. And, as always, #BlackLivesMatter.

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